A Dish Best Served Cold?
by pinkskyline
Summary: Spike gets a strange psychic message asking him to kill Buffy, so he shows up at her door to warn her that someone wants her dead. Seeing her again is icing.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This story takes place after the end of both series. I tried to be fairly true to the Buffyverse, so please feel free to let me know if I messed anything up—I haven't seen the shows for a while. Please read and review.

Chapter One

Buffy sighed and looked at her coffee.

"Too much work talk? Sorry. Now that I don't live near a Hellmouth anymore, it's hard to give my stories the same umph as before," Xander said.

"No! Definitely not your story's fault. It was a good story, with many technical words and important sounding procedures," Buffy said.

"So why the sigh, then?"

"You wouldn't want to know what I was thinking," Buffy said.

"No? So it could be about three things in the world. Dark Willow, Anya or Spike. Willow's as sunny as a summer's day these days, and Anya's still dead, so I'm guessing that means Spike. You can talk to me about him, you know. It's not every day you have a best friend type in town."

"But that's just it. It's not every day you're here in town. I don't want to spend the whole time talking about Spike."

"Time limits are good. I have no desire to talk Spike for a week straight. But right here right now seems like a good place to talk."

"You sure?"

"Hey, the last time I saw Spike he died to save the world. I'm not feeling entirely bitter towards the guy," Xander said.

"Okay. Well, I know he's not your favourite person, but I have been doing some serious best friendy jonesing and would really like to talk about it. It's just—I miss him," she said.

"Why isn't he in your life anymore?" Xander asked. "I thought he was determined to follow you to the ends of the earth or stalk you until you loved him or whatever."

Buffy smiled fondly at Xander's characterization of Spike. "I think when Spike got his soul, things got a little complicated for him. He…realized that there was more to him than just loving me. He felt the guilt of the things he had done for the first time in, like, a hundred years."

"So, what's to stop him from making up for his years and years of evil by fighting by your side?"

"I don't know. There was this pipe dream he had about some gem that could make him human again, but I think that he's pretty much given up on that."

"He really should stay a vampire if he really wants to make up for the things he's done. He'd need like a hundred human life spans to do enough good deeds to make up for just a few weeks during his bad old days in Sunnydale."

"I don't know. I think maybe staying away from me and letting me have a normal life for once, you know, not having to worry about his guilt and sunlight and everything, is part of what he thinks he's doing to make up for the evil stuff."

"Well, pardon the observation, but you don't exactly seem to be pining away. I know you depended on him in Sunnydale, and that nothing could shake his loyalty, which is more than I can say for the rest of us—"

"—Things were bad. When Spike was at his best, the rest of us were pretty much all at our worst," Buffy said.

"—But you've made a life for yourself. You go out on dates. You don't pine," Xander said.

"I don't even know if I want to be with Spike that way. But I do—well, love him. I miss him. I wish I could go out on patrol with him again," Buffy said. She glanced at Xander nervously. She had never admitted that she loved Spike to him before.

Xander seemed to know what she was thinking. "Hey, no one understood me and Anya, either. Or me and Cordelia for that matter. Wait, does no one have the ability to understand any woman being with me?"

"I think it was the nice guy dating a soulless evil being from hell thing," Buffy said.

"That explains why people wondered about me and Cordy, but what about me and Anya?"

Buffy laughed; she was glad that Xander was once again able to talk about both of his dead ex-girlfriends. "Cordy wasn't so bad."

"Love is weird. And we never really got to know Spike-with-a-soul in normal circumstances. Maybe he would have been good people, if everyone wasn't tense about the apocalypse and constant, mind-numbing death."

"And if he hadn't been brainwashed to kill people and stuff."

"Yeah," Xander said.

ooooOOOOoooo

Spike jolted awake, wondering if the horrors he had just witnessed were dreams or memories. He frequently got flashes of things that he couldn't remember doing but was confident he was capable of—or had been.

"Turnin' into a bleedin' old man," he mumbled, stumbling into the shower.

He was still hurting from patrolling the night before. He was back in New York again—not because he loved the city, although he did, but because it was close to a sleepy little town that had something extremely beautiful and valuable in it.

"She's better off without you," he murmured. But when he thought of Buffy nothing else seemed to matter. Yes, his feelings had gotten a bit more complex than they had been when he had been a soulless vampire fixated on the most powerful, beautiful girl in the world, who hated him, of course—but even with a soul, the story remained the same. It was all about Buffy. Everything he did, everything he thought about—somehow it all came back to her.

Spike towelled off his body and walked naked into the main room of his bachelor apartment.

_You have to kill Buffy Summers._

It was almost a voice, almost a thought. Where had that come from? "I'm bleeding sick of people trying to control my thoughts," he warned the voice.

_Buffy lives in Plainsville, NY._

"I know that, you git!"

_Buffy is still the most powerful slayer in the world. She'll come for you. _

"I wish," Spike murmured. Although the words were coming out of nowhere, he felt no compulsion to follow them. It wasn't like it had been with the First. It was almost like listening to an answering machine—there was nothing personal, nothing to indicate that the man speaking was speaking specifically to Spike. "If he's talking to all the vampires in, say, New York, at least a couple will probably go try to kill her," Spike thought.

Although Spike knew that Buffy could handle an entire army of vampires, he thought he better help her out. After all, she was so close at hand—barely a couple of hours drive. In a case like this it would be rude to just call and warn her about the danger. And if he could talk to her and be with her for a few hours, or maybe even a few days…well, it would make every calamity he'd suffered since he died worthwhile.

"See you soon, Buffy," Spike murmured.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Buffy awoke from a strange dream just as dawn was breaking, to an insistent knocking on the front door. "Peanut butter forklift ballet!" she said as she woke up. "Ugh, I must be hungry and listening to too many of Xander's work stories," she said. Buffy donned a robe and went downstairs, ready, as always, for anything.

For anything, that is, except what she saw through the window of her front door. There appeared to be a vampire with smoking skin on her front stoop—and he was wearing a duster over his head to protect him from the rising sun.

Buffy unlocked the door and grabbed Spike, apparently inviting him in with her actions. He burst in slightly off-kilter and then stood awkwardly, head tilted to one side.

"Spike! I was just telling Xander that I missed you," she said, too sleepy to play it cool, and threw herself into his arms. He hugged her back tightly.

"The boy's here? I thought he lived in California," Spike said. He loosened his embrace but still stood close to Buffy, his hands on her shoulders. It was a familiar yet still only friendly gesture—and Buffy didn't know how to feel about that. She turned around and walked into the kitchen with Spike following behind.

"Some people visit you know," she said. She began to put together a pot of coffee. Sure, it was early, but she wouldn't be going back to bed now.

"Sorry for the early start to the day, but I have something important to talk to you about and I didn't want to wait until dark," he said.

"You used to live dangerously and drive right through the middle of the day, with your windows painted black, remember?"

"I didn't bother to buy a car after the last one was destroyed in the apocalypse. I mean, you know how hard it is to buy a car at night, even on a private sale? I got my last one from some bloke I ate, but that's really not an option anymore. And it's hard to call yourself a champion and then justify stealing a car…although I have considered it. Anyway, parking in NYC is murder."

Buffy stared in disbelief. "Are you trying to tell me that the great and powerful Spike took a bus here?"

"I had a friend give me a lift," Spike said.

"You have friends?" Buffy asked before reflecting that as long as she had known him, even when he was a big bad, he'd always had friends. Of course, some of them were miniony friends…but friends are friends. Why did she always have to beat him down? "Sorry, force of habit. Of course you have friends," she said.

"It's alright. I did think you and I were friends at one time, slayer," Spike said. He looked into her eyes in that searching, intense way he had, and Buffy realized he was still in love with her. She loved him, but she didn't know if she was _in love_ with him. Nevertheless her heart sped up in response to his look. Could a vampire sense an elevated heart rate?

"Spike, whatever we were, we were never friends," Buffy said.

"I did think, there at the end—but no matter. I came here for a reason. I got a psychic message that I should kill you," he said, smiling a rather apologetic half-smile.

"So you called up your best bud to give you a ride to come kill me? Are we really going to do this again?" Buffy asked.

Spike rolled his eyes. "I don't want to kill you. I haven't wanted to kill you in years."

"Spike!" Dawn said from the kitchen doorway. She ran to him and he hugged her, and Buffy felt wistful about her own hug of just a few minutes ago. She and Spike didn't seem to be able to have a civil conversation. Physical things they could do, like fighting, and touching, and sex, but talking? It never seemed to end well.

"Nibblet, how are you?"

"I was asleep, but the yummy coffee smell woke me up," she said. She went to the cupboard and got mugs for the three of them, and milk and sugar.

"What do you want for breakfast, Dawny?" Buffy asked.

"Toast. I'll get it later. It's a bit too early for food," she said. "So why the early morning kitchen pow wow?"

Spike looked at Buffy. He must have been thinking about how protective of her Buffy used to be—she had never wanted Dawn to know the extent of the danger her sister faced every night. But Dawny was almost an adult now, and she'd seen a lot, and she had a right to hear whatever Spike was here to tell Buffy. Buffy nodded to him and he proceeded with his story.

"I was getting out of the shower last night, and I heard a voice from nowhere say that I should kill you because you used to be the most powerful slayer in the world and would come for me. And, he said where you lived," Spike said.

"Used to be?" Buffy said indignantly. She went to the counter and got some bread and peanut butter, making toast with abrupt jerky motions.

"Were you naked?" Dawn asked. She was grinning wickedly, and Buffy barely heard Spike's soft reply.

"Never you mind, Bit," he said.

"Used to be?" Buffy repeated, fuming.

"I think you're missing the point, Slayer," Spike said.

"Yeah, people used to come after Buffy to kill her just because she was the slayer before, but now that the slayer's power is dispersed, and she's not this big target, it's gotta be someone Buffy knows, right?" Dawn said.

Spike looked at Buffy. "She's grown up a mite, hasn't she? Hadn't even thought of that. What I was going to say was, the guy didn't address me by name. I had the feeling that he was broadcasting somehow to vampires."

"Did he say, 'Vampires everywhere, now hear this'?" Dawn asked with a grin.

"Not exactly. But he did mention the slayer coming to get me, and if he was talking to me specifically, and knew who I was, he would know that I've quit the big bad business and needn't fear the slayer. It seems like everyone knows I souled up these days," Spike said.

"Why needn't you fear me? Because I only _used_ to be the most powerful slayer in the world? And now I'm just some has been? Some only mildly powerful superhero?"

Spike looked at Dawn. "Well, at least she'll be sufficiently pissed off when she finds the guy," he said.

"The terrible wrath of a slightly-stronger-than-average superhero," Dawn said, dissolving into giggles.

Buffy smiled at her sister. "Very funny! Now what are we going to do about this vampire radio station and its top rated kill Buffy program?"

"Maybe it's magic. We should ask Willow," Dawn said.

"Oh, you just want to get the band back together," Spike said.

"It was such a good band!" Dawn said. "And Xander is already here. If Willow came she and Xander and I could make with the research while you and Spike check all the demon bars and hang outs—"

"We're not living on a Hellmouth anymore. The demon activity in this town is pretty tame."

"Well, you should at least check the sewers and the cemetery and the warehouses. It's where these mysteries always seem to end up," Dawn said.

"I miss living in warehouses. They were dark and gloomy with lots of space for whatever evil you were plotting," Spike said wistfully. "You could chalk 'em full of ancient artefacts and weapons and whatnot."

"Maybe it's some kind of ancient artefact that enabled the guy to talk to you," Buffy said. "I should call Giles and see what the watchers know about it."

"I thought the watchers were no more," Spike said.

"Giles is in England trying to get that all started up again. Most of the library and stuff was destroyed, but Giles has been going to rare book auctions and rare demon book auctions and trying to get it built up again," Dawn said.

"You'd think a lot of that stuff would be on the internet by now. Why is some do-gooder not scanning all these texts into a database that can be accessed by anyone? I mean, Joe Average has a right to know the signs that his maths teacher is actually a demon," Spike said.

"You're right, you know. And now that there's so many different slayers, there should be a central place where they can all go to get info without having to go through Giles. I'm going to have to talk to Willow about it," Dawn said.

"Alright, we get it! I'm painfully, sadly average. No one cares about me at all. I'm just some nobody who happens to bench press more than most people and inexplicably has martial arts skills for some reason," Buffy said.

"Cheer up, pet, at least the guy who's trying to kill you still cares," Spike said.

Dawn put down her coffee and ran out the door, saying, "Gotta shower. I'll be ready for Scoobie stuff soon."

Buffy and Spike were suddenly alone, and it suddenly seemed more awkward than it had been before. "You've done well with the Nibblet. She's a great girl."

"She is."

"Smart."

"Yep."

"So what are the ground rules for kissing?"

Buffy gaped at Spike. "You want to kiss Dawn?"

Spike smiled that intimate, knowing smile Buffy knew so well, the one that thrilled her to her toes no matter how often she saw it. "Not hardly," he said.

"There was no kissing the last time I saw you."

"Nope."

"I thought you wanted it that way," Buffy said.

Spike looked at her in disbelief. "You thought I didn't want to kiss you?"

"No, not really," Buffy said. She looked at her toast, suddenly not nearly as hungry as she had been when she made it.

"Not to worry, love. I won't mention kissing again. If you need time to get your soft and fuzzies sorted, you'll have it. But if you feel the urge, I'm here for you."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Buffy emerged from her shower refreshed and ready to tackle the problem at hand. She hesitated over her clothes for the first time in ages. She had been single for a while and certainly wasn't interested in any of the boring people she worked with at the call centre. Buffy had always liked clothes and taken care with her appearance whether or not she was interested in a man. She had made time to shop despite any disaster, and now had a respectable wardrobe of things that looked amazing on her. So why was she agonizing now? Spike had her all confused.

She almost wished she'd had the fortitude to ignore the feelings of attraction that always cropped up when Spike was around. If it had truly been a disaster, like it had been the other few times she'd seen him since he'd closed the Hellmouth and died, she would have been able to suppress that gnawing feelings of desire. Undead things, demons and even just evil people had been trying to kill her for years. It was probably a good thing she knew someone was gunning for her, but she was hardly worried. Hence her inability to stop staring at Spike's…everything. Or well, it had been a while since she had been with a guy. Maybe that was the whole problem. It made it really hard to ignore the blatant sexiness of a guy who oozed sex appeal in every sneer, especially when she knew sex with him was as good as she'd always imagined it would be.

"I'll just have to ignore it," Buffy said, even though a part of her wondered why. She'd always been able to justify her feelings for Angel because he had a soul, and now Spike had one, too. So why couldn't she just be with Spike? Was it because he loved her and she had always just used him?

"But it doesn't have to be that way now," she said. It had always been hard for her to take Spike's feelings seriously when she'd seen him do so many crazy, evil, and bizarre things. And he never took anything seriously. Well, anything except love. Even in his big bad days, he had become a different person when Dru came into the room, and now he was the same way with Buffy.

Buffy put those thoughts out of her head, threw on some skinny jeans, and a lacy white tunic. She did her hair quickly and added some jewellery, and went downstairs.

Spike and Dawn were sitting at the kitchen table, apparently catching up. Dawn's toast was mostly gone and Spike was drinking what Buffy hoped was coffee. "Where's Xander?" Buffy asked.

"I don't think he's awake yet," Dawn said. "What's the time difference thingy between here and England?"

"It's about five hours later there," Spike said.

"So we could call Giles and Willow now," Dawn said.

"That's where Willow is, with Giles? She's not becoming a Watcher, is she?" Spike asked.

"Well, now that Giles sort of is the Watchers, it wouldn't be that bad of a thing. But I think she's just helping assemble the library and the resources and stuff," Dawn said.

"Spike? What's Spike doing here?" Xander asked from the doorway.

Dawn explained the situation and Xander sat down heavily in a chair at the kitchen table. "I guess it really wouldn't be a visit with Buffy if there wasn't Scoobage. We can probably take it from here, though, Spike. You can toddle off back to whatever crypt you're staying in these days."

Spike looked at Buffy, but she remained silent. Spike cleared his throat. "This guy is talking directly to me. Don't you think that might be useful?"

"What do you mean?"

"He just told me the town where Buffy was living, before. Now that I'm here he might broadcast a central location where the vampires should all meet, or say the location of Buffy's house. I can hear him, so I can warn Buffy when he and whoever shows up to help him are making a move."

"We have these newfangled devices called cell phones—"

"Spike's staying," Buffy said, interrupting Xander. "Deal, alright?"

Xander looked disgruntled and went to get a coffee, not arguing. Buffy looked at Spike and Dawn. "Could you two do some research while Xander and I eat breakfast? I want to at least say we tried to find it on our own before we called Giles."

Spike and Dawn got up and went into the living room. Buffy had some of the more useful demon, talisman and magic encyclopaedias, plus there was actually getting to be some good resources about magic on the internet.

Buffy made Xander toast and he ate it in silence. Buffy finished her toast from before and warmed up her coffee. Finally Xander spoke. "Spike is really not what I had in mind when I came to visit you."

"Things happen, Xand," Buffy said.

"And you know, I used to be resigned to it. My life hasn't been that terrible lately. There's lots of work rebuilding Sunnydale, I've made some friends, even started dating. Dating humans, even. I guess I forgot how quickly demons can mess up your plans," Xander said.

"Well, you're in my world, now," Buffy said dryly.

When Buffy and Xander were finished eating, Buffy loaded the dishwasher and followed Xander into the living room.

"I think I found it," Spike said.

"Really? Already?" Buffy asked. "We should have had you doing research back in Sunnydale."

"Well, when you said earlier that it might be an object or an amulet or something, I remembered an old story about an orb that a vampire could use to talk to other vampires. I'd always thought it was a myth, or at least, not very interesting, so I didn't pay much attention. I was more into things like ultimate power and all that. But here it is right here," Spike said. He walked to Buffy and showed her the entry in the book.

"The Bloodsong Orb?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah. It says here the last known location was with the Watcher's council, which is probably why I never heard much about it."

"So we have to call Giles after all," Dawn said happily.

Buffy got her phone and dialled Giles' number, putting the phone down on the table in front of her. Giles picked up, and Buffy said, "Giles, you're on speaker with Xander, Dawn, Spike and I."

"Gracious, what's afoot?" Giles asked.

Buffy and Dawn looked at each other, smiling. Giles was so—Giles. "Not anything that serious. We think some vamps have a thingy called the Bloodsong Orb and they're using it to get an army of vampires together to try and kill me."

"Kill you? Why?" Giles asked.

Buffy sighed. She was still _a_ slayer, even if she wasn't_ the_ slayer anymore. "Because they're super villains or whatever. I don't really care why—I just want to avoid being killed."

"Of course. How can I help you?"

Dawn spoke up. "The last people to have the orb were the Watchers. Do you think there's any way to trace where it went?"

Giles paused. "Before the First, there was a lot of prophecy going on, telling the Watchers to prepare for a great evil. One of the ways the Watchers prepared was to take their most valuable and powerful books and artefacts and place them in separate, safe locations."

"Like the French did with all the art work at the Louvre before the Nazi's rode in," Spike murmured.

"Exactly," Giles said. "There are some good records of where things went, but many of the things were lost, sold, or stolen. People didn't think anyone would ever come looking for the things, since there were so few Watchers left."

"So can you find out who had the orb?"

"Yes, I think so. I'll ring you back when I know more," Giles said, and they hung up.

"So, what do we do now?" Dawn asked.

"You have a class at ten," Buffy reminded Dawn.

"I can miss _one_ college class Buffy. The world won't end," Dawn said.

"You're going," Buffy said, staring hard at her sister.

"I should have never let you see my schedule," Dawn grumbled, walking out of the room to prepare for class.

"So, what should the rest of us do?" Xander asked without enthusiasm.

"Hello: vampire," Spike said, pointing to his chest. "Don't move about much in the daylight. You two should go out and do whatever you were going to do today. I'll sleep or something. You have to be a vampire to use the orb, so it's probably a vampire after you. You won't get attacked before sunset. We'll regroup then."

Buffy bit back her annoyance at Spike for speaking up about what they should do. She supposed he was used to being a leader these days, not a follower, but she had given the orders for a long time and wasn't used to hearing them come from anyone else, especially Spike. However, it was what she would have said anyway.

"You know what that means, Xander. It's you're lucky day," she said.

"Arrow head museum?" Xander asked, wincing slightly.

"It's interesting," Buffy said defensively.

"Forgive me if I lost my enthusiasm for Native American culture when that crazy spirit gave me syphilis," Xander said.

"I kind of lost my enthusiasm for arrowheads that day after I had about five of them sticking into me," Spike said.

"Yes, but you don't have to go to the museum. You can just sit around and watch daytime TV," Xander said.

"It's not the same since they cancelled _Passions_."

"I can almost promise you that you won't get syphilis today," Buffy said to Xander.

Xander got up to get dressed, leaving Spike and Buffy sitting alone together on the sofa.

"So I was thinking about your question from before," Buffy said.

"Which one?" Spike asked.

"The one about kissing," Buffy said. She noticed she was wringing her hands and stopped herself from fidgeting.

"Well?"

"I think, as long as we're alone, we can try kissing," Buffy said.

Spike cocked his head to one side, lowering his eyes to her lips. "I notice we're alone right now, love," he said.

Buffy smiled, and then reached out to touch his face. It was cold and smooth, and his eyes closed with pleasure at her simple touch. Buffy moved her hand to Spike's shoulder and leaned over and placed what started out as a simple kiss on his lips, surprised at the passion which seemed to take over immediately, deepening the kiss and making them both more aggressive. They kissed each other hungrily, with open mouths and warring tongues, and soon Buffy forced herself to pull away before it became a full-fledged grope-fest.

Buffy and Spike were both breathing heavily when they separated, even though Buffy supposed Spike technically didn't have to breathe.

Spike stared at her avidly, as if trying to memorize the details of her face. "God, I've missed you," he said, his voice a low and sexy rumble.

Buffy smiled, and then regretfully walked away to get ready to go out with Xander.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Spike looked around Buffy's house, now empty, not to snoop, but to get a feel for this new Buffy he hardly knew. She looked the same, but events in the years since the closing of the Sunnydale Hellmouth had given her a new confidence and assurance. Some men might find it intimidating, but he'd always been attracted to strong women.

Spike had thought for a while that the Slayer wouldn't ever settle down, but then Dawn had been accepted into a good college, here in New York State, and now here it was. Summers central.

The house was on a quiet street in the part of the town where civilization edged on to a hardwood forest. It had a small front porch quite close to the sidewalk and a modest back yard.

The house was smaller than the one they'd had in Sunnydale, and all the furniture was different, more modern, and probably cheaper, but the feel of the place was similar. It had that kind of homey feel where one expected a homemaker complete with apron to emerge from the kitchen with a plate of cookies every time you walked in the house. Not that he'd tell Buffy that.

The house had a simple layout; downstairs there was a living room, kitchen and combination laundry and bathroom, and upstairs there were three bedrooms and a shared bathroom. Spike noted the attached garage and remembered his surprise earlier when he'd seen Buffy reach for her car keys before leaving the house. Although he was sure she drove he couldn't ever remember her doing it. And her car was so very sensible and grown up that Spike had found it vaguely depressing.

The basement, off the kitchen, was stark and unfinished. It was remarkable only in that she and Dawn had so few possessions to cram into it—but then they would have lost everything when the Hellmouth swallowed Sunnydale whole.

Spike grinned, remembering the look on Buffy's face when he'd asked her about kissing: the feel of her lips when she'd kissed him. He wasn't under any illusion that she had been waiting for his return, or missing him that much, or even realizing how much she loved him in the years they had been apart. But there had always been fire between them, even when they'd wanted to kill each other. It hadn't been sexual then, just—chemistry. It was something that could combust and destroy, or at the very least cause things to get nice and unpredictable.

Spike sat on a chair out of the direct sunlight and dozed off, waiting for someone to come home or for something good to come on TV.

He awoke to the reappearance of the voice in his head. It repeated its previous message, this time adding:

_It's now or never. Get revenge for all the times the Slayer or some do-gooder like her ruined your plans. She will kill you if she gets the chance._

"Sounds like someone's working himself and his pals into a lather," Spike murmured. "Either that or no one's showed yet."

Spike shuddered to think of how Buffy would react if the vamp couldn't rouse a crowd to kill her. Talk about a blow to the ego.

It was early afternoon and the sun was coming through the window at a different angle, so Spike got up and moved into the kitchen with a trashy book he hoped was Buffy's but knew in his heart was Dawn's.

His suspicion was confirmed when she walked in the kitchen an hour later exclaiming, "Oh, that's a good one. I love the heroine."

"She seems like a pushover to me. I'd 'a kicked Lord whatshisname through the ceiling by now if I was her," Spike said without looking up.

"You would have made an awesome woman," Dawn said.

Spike looked up from his book quizzically, but decided not to ask her what she meant by that. He was fairly certain he didn't want to know. Dawn was rummaging through the fridge and cupboards looking for something to eat, and Spike remembered the beer cooler of blood he'd snuck into the fridge. When he was trying to think of a way to take it out without Dawn noticing, she saw it in the fridge and put it on the counter for him. "Hungry?" she asked.

"Yeah," Spike said. He had forgotten how cool with vampires the Summers girls were. Summers women, now. He took a bag of blood and emptied it into a mug, taking a big swallow as he tossed the bag. "Old voice-in-the-head is back," he remarked.

"Right now?" Dawn asked, looking around as if the man that belonged to the voice might be hiding somewhere in the kitchen.

"About an hour or so ago. He just said something about Buffy being a do-gooder and all us Bads needing to get revenge on her."

"Hey, don't call yourself a Bad. You're officially not a Bad," Dawn said.

"You never really knew me when I was bad. But, when I was bad I was bad, you know?"

"I know," Dawn said. "When I was a ball of energy I was—green, I think."

"Talk about your checkered past," Spike said.

Dawn smiled and ate a cookie, obviously over the fact that she hadn't started off as a human.

The phone rang and Dawn ran to get the cordless from the living room table. She brought it into the kitchen, talking to Giles as she walked. "Can I put you on speaker phone? Spike's here."

Giles' voice came thinly through the speaker of the phone. "The stone you're looking for was placed in the care of a demon named Dashby. He used to live in England, but my sources tell me he's moved to Boston. I couldn't reach him by phone."

"Boston's not really that far. We could go see this guy," Spike said.

"You might not need to," Giles said. "There's a slayer who lives even nearer to Boston then you are now. I've asked her to go into the city and check his apartment. She's going to contact me when with what she finds."

"You should probably call Buffy's cell with whatever you find. As soon as it gets dark, we're all going to go out patrolling to see if we can find this guy," Dawn said.

"We are?" Spike asked.

"Yeah, Buffy texted me and had me stop by the hardware store for some stake-making-wood," Dawn said.

"Are you sure that isn't just because Spike is in town?" Giles asked.

_You old bugger_, Spike thought. Just because Giles had said it, Spike cut in, "Why don't you just give the Boston slayer Buffy's number? It might be awfully late in England by the time she calls you. Wouldn't want you lose any sleep."

"You're all consideration, Spike, but I think I can manage one late night," Giles said.

"Thanks Giles," Dawn said. She hung up the phone.

"So, what are the human-types having for dinner?"

"Buffy and Xander are bringing back Indian food," Dawn said. "Wanna watch TV while we wait?"

By the time Xander and Buffy returned, it was almost dusk. The group assembled around the kitchen table eating and discussing where the Bad might be hiding.

"I still say we check the graveyard and any empty warehouses and sewers," Dawn said.

"We can check the graveyards and warehouses, but I don't know about sewers. My boots are new," Buffy said.

"Do you wanna catch this guy or not?" Xander asked.

"Meh, I'm kinda good either way. I'm sure the four of us can handle one measly little army of vampires," Buffy said.

"Should we carve a couple of stakes before we go?" Xander asked.

"Spike and I made up a bag of them while we watched_ the Young and the Restless_," Dawn said.

"Good, then, we're good. Let's go," Buffy said.

Dawn shouldered the bag of stakes and the four of them got their coats and walked out the front door of the house, locking it behind them. Spike and Xander fell behind the women as neither of them really knew where they were going.

"How were the arrowheads?" Spike asked.

"Brought back memories. We decided to go shopping, instead," Xander said.

"Hence the new boots."

"Yeah. So what've you been doing lately? I heard you were hanging out with some blue demon who considered you a pet," Xander asked, although not unkindly. He knew all about demon-human relations, and how strange they could be.

"That was only at first. I think we're sort of friends now, as much as you can be with someone who considers herself a God and thinks she's vastly superior to all humans and vampires."

"But isn't she kind of a God? That's what I heard, anyway," Xander said.

"She's a God, but the body she inhabits used to be my friend, a human—Illyria possessed her and took her away from us. So she's not as powerful as she used to be. But now—I've actually known Illyria for a lot longer than I ever knew Fred. Sometimes she reverts to Fred's form and personality and it's like I remember Fred's gone all over again, like I forgot that's how Illyria came here."

"Your friend is still in there?"

"I don't know," Spike said. He was silent for a while, realizing that he and Xander were actually having a civil, meaningful conversation. He sighed. "Anyway, Illyria has some things going on that I didn't care to be involved in, so I came to New York to check out the demon scene, see if anything was brewing."

"Brewing?"

"Evil plots and the like. How's Sunny D? I can't believe it's not its bad old self," Spike said.

"It is every bit the quiet California town that it always pretended to be. If anything lies beneath, my spidey senses haven't sensed it yet."

"Bloody hell. It doesn't seem right, somehow," Spike said.

"I know. I keep expecting a giant snake to slither down main street, but it isn't happening."

"Guys, this is the graveyard," Buffy said, cutting their conversation short. She pointed into a path through a hedge so high that Spike couldn't see over it.

"What a wonderful place to be bad," Spike said. He ducked through the hedge and found himself in a small, hedge enclosed, small graveyard that at no point was visible from the street. "Teenagers must get it on here all the time."

"Really not what I expected you to say," Xander said. He paused. "But, you're not wrong."


	5. Chapter 5

**I wrote this chapter ages ago, and apparently forgot to upload it. Sorry!**

The group walked towards the darkened back of the cemetery. Buffy noticed that Xander and Spike seemed to be getting along and was confused by it. Could everyone have a civil conversation with Spike but her?

Suddenly a hand emerged from a gravesite, and then two more other gravesites erupted in a flurry of limbs and earth. This was more vamp activity than Buffy had seen in a while. She wondered if the vamp who wanted her dead had been turning people to help him kill her.

Dawn shrieked and turned away from the gravesite nearest her, but reached into her pack and pulled out four stakes as she did so. She threw the first to Buffy, and then tossed two at Spike, who handed one to Xander. Then she was a flurry of movement—her fighting style was all her own: a graceful, dancer's style she had developed as Buffy trained her. She struggled a bit, but staked the vampire. _Dawn's pretty awesome_, Buffy thought as she staked her own vamp.

Spike was, as ever, a capable and adaptable fighter who would press any advantage, and he dealt with his vamp so quickly that he seemed disappointed that the fight ended so fast. Buffy saw some similarities in their fighting styles, and wondered how much of her own fighting style had come out of the things Spike had taught her over the years, either deliberately or through her battles with him.

"I don't think any of those guys were the masterminds of an elaborate revenge plot," Spike said.

"But they might have been turned to help kill me," Buffy said.

"Wow, Dawn, you dusted that guy like a pro. I feel like a civi here, all of a sudden," Xander said. He put his arm around Dawn, and the two of them walked slightly ahead of Buffy and Spike. "When'd you turn into a kung fu legend?" he asked her.

"So, how've you been?" Spike asked Buffy.

"Honestly, I'm okay when the world is about to end. But when life is all boring and I'm at my job waiting for the weekend to come, I really miss the non-stop demon action that was Sunnydale," Buffy said.

"This is why I used to make trouble all the time: to entertain myself. And it gets worse the longer you live. I mean, you can only go to so many parties and find it interesting. Eventually you have to embellish your fun."

"Are you telling me that if I lived for a hundred years I would find myself having to torture people with railroad spikes to entertain myself?"

"I mostly just did that to impress Dru. She went in for all that sadistic goth stuff. And I wouldn't be able to do it, now, at least not without a good reason. It was a combination of having so much time on your hands, the devils' plaything and all that, and having no soul or conscience."

"And hanging out with insane vampires who egged you on," Buffy put in.

"One cannot overlook the impact of peer pressure. All the cool kids were psychotic, sadistic murderers," Spike said.

Buffy could tell that, although Spike dealt with his guilt in a different way than Angel did, he still felt it just as keenly. She changed the subject.

"Whatcha doing in New York?" she asked.

"Making central park safe for the perverts again. And flat sitting. I have a demon friend who's away in another dimension for a few years…maybe longer…and he asked me to dust out the cobwebs now and again, make the place look inhabited," Spike said.

"Inhabited? Did he ever see your crypt?"

"I had a nice basement apartment in LA. I had a PlayStation and everything. I had to get it when my hand was reattached."

"Ouch, you lost your hand?"

"Yeah, and my leg. And I tortured as a ghost and burned alive. I was bleedin' humpty dumpty back then," Spike said.

"Did you, um, keep your leg?" Buffy asked.

Spike didn't seem to hear her question. He put a hand on Dawn's shoulder and motioned for her to be still and silent. "Voice-in-the-head just told me to go to your house."

"He knows where we live?" Dawn asked.

"I suppose it's a good thing no one's at home, although if we were we could deal with this here and now," Buffy said.

"He's still saying to go to your address, and he's still using the orb. I wonder if that means the vampires he's sending haven't met him?" Spike said. "I mean, if he had met them, if he was with them, wouldn't he just say, right then, let's go kill the Slayer using his regular voice instead of using the poncy orb?"

"There's one way to find out," Buffy said. She turned to Dawn and Xander. "You two stay here. Spike and I will go take care of whoever's at the house—and see if we can find out who sent them."

"I think there's a donut shop around here. Maybe we'll go there instead of waiting out the danger in a cemetery that could be full of vampires," Xander said.

"Good point," Buffy said.

She and Spike walked briskly back to the house, not speaking much, because there was no longer any need to. This, they remembered. Patrolling together, running toward danger together…this was who they were, where they lived…

They approached the house stealthily. Spike pointed to the front door, which they had locked earlier. It stood slightly ajar, kicked in.

"What the hell?" Buffy whispered. "They're vampires. They can't get in without being invited."

"We thought you might come downstairs if we kicked in your door," came a voice from the darkness of the neighbour's bushes.

"You know what normal people do? They knock. You should try it sometime. I mean, it's not enough to try to kill me. You have to make me replace my front door, too?"

The vamp grunted in response and launched himself at Buffy. She leaned back and he flew passed her, landing neatly on his feet after a summersault despite her evasion. So he was kind of good. That was exciting. She kicked his legs from under him and knocked him on his back, staking him.

"Is it really just one guy?" Buffy asked.

"Let's try the backyard," Spike said.

They crept around the side of the house, and soon they could see that there were about seven males hanging around in the backyard. Buffy made a hand signal to Spike, indicating which vamp she wanted him to fight with. He pointed to a larger vamp, and she rolled her eyes. "Fine," she mouthed, moving closer.

Then, her phone rang.

"You couldn't put that thing on vibrate?" Spike asked, launching himself towards the big guy they had agree he could fight.

"My bad," Buffy said. She dusted one almost immediately, and then started in on his friends. She took a powerful blow to the face and then bounced back, pummelling her opponent with her fists while kicking a vamp who was approaching from behind. She turned quickly and staked her second, then turned to the one who had actually managed to hit her.

A kick to the head managed to subdue him long enough for Buffy to stake him. "I've dusted three. Are you still fighting that one guy?" she asked Spike.

"I'm just trying to soften this one up. Thought you wanted some questions answered. If all you're looking for is a quick stake in the heart, I'll do that," Spike said.

"No, you're right," Buffy said as she staked another. "I'll just take care of my six, and you take care of that guy."

Buffy grabbed one of the remaining vamps and punched him in the stomach, then kneed him in the face when he doubled over. She went to stake him when the other vamp grabbed hold of her shoulder, twisting her slightly and attempting to bite her neck. She spun away and punched him in the kidney, then staked him as he howled. The one she had kneed had recovered enough to try to hobble away.

"Oh, bugger this," Spike said, and he staked his vamp.

"That was not the plan, Spike," Buffy said.

"There's still one left," Spike said defensively. He sprinted around the house and tackled the last vamp.

He held the vampire by the neck until he passed out, and Buffy checked her phone. "It was Giles," she said.

"You still hold vampires captive in your basement?" Spike asked.

"This will be the first one in this particular basement, but I do have chains down there," Buffy said.

"I'll tend to him and you can call Giles if you like," Spike said. Buffy nodded. "I think you might have to say the words, cause he's a vampire, and it's your house and all."

"Okay, yes please, take the vampire into the house and chain him in the basement," Buffy said.

She called up Giles. The phone rang once before he answered.

"Dashby is dead," Giles said, "he appears to have been murdered, and not by a vampire."

"Is there anyway a vampire could have known where he was and targeted him because of the things he had from the watchers?" Buffy asked.

"I think it's more likely the man was robbed and murdered and the orb was sold on the black market," Giles said.

"I suppose that's more likely, but it doesn't help us find the identity of the guy who's after me any," Buffy said.

"No, it doesn't," Giles said.

Buffy said thank you and hung up, then called Dawn and told her and Xander to come home.


	6. Chapter 6

**Authors Note: Hello. I know I haven't updated for many moons, but hopefully some readers will still remember what this story was about. Thanks for all the reviews and alerts! I am glad that people are enjoying the story. I will try to update more regularly in the future. **

Buffy walked into the kitchen, moving her shoulder in a circular motion, and felt a sharp pain. That was gonna hurt in the morning.

"Is it as bad as it looks?" Spike asked.

Buffy winced. Having a minor injury after such a quick little fight wasn't as bad as having Spike _know_ she was hurt. Back in Sunnydale she never would have fought without limbering up—hell, in Sunnydale she had never gone long enough between fights to find it necessary to stretch. Was she really missing the Hellmouth, again? How depressing was her life right now? Well, she supposed she'd just have to stay in better shape, after all, she was getting older…and that was _another_ depressing thought. "It's fine," she said tightly.

"Dawn and the boy are in the basement talking to the vamp," Spike said.

"Is he talking?"

"I don't think he knows who's on the other end of the Bloodsong, but we did confirm that the message is going out to all vamps within a certain range. Apparently he heard the voice in a demon bar. Only vamps heard the call. And you will be happy to know that several vamps were far too scared by tales of your prowess to come after you."

"Tales of my prowess?" Buffy asked.

"Well, I think he used the words 'she's a damned mean bitch', but I thought you'd want to know that you're still striking fear into the unbeating hearts of the lesser immortals," Spike said.

"You know, I wanted to get a t-shirt that said that, but Dawn thought I wouldn't make any friends," Buffy said.

"I wasn't making any kind of point before, when I noticed your arm. I don't really get my kicks from needling you anymore. I was actually thinking of offering you a massage," Spike said. He stepped closer, and Buffy stumbled back, more because of the sincerity in his eyes than because of his physical nearness.

"Um, that would be nice, later. Want a drink of water? I want a drink of water. You probably don't. Drink water, I mean," Buffy said. She hazarded a glance behind her as she got a glass from the cupboard and saw that Spike was still giving her that alarmingly sexy, I-know-you-want-to-have-sex-with-me look he always used to give her when they were fooling around in Sunnydale.

"Water is not what I want from you, Slayer," Spike said. He was looking at her intently.

"Buffy, I hope you got what you wanted from that vampire," Xander called.

_Not quite yet_, Buffy thought, looking at Spike and thinking she could think of quite a few more things to do with him. He smirked and she rolled her eyes. Trust him to know exactly what she was thinking, especially when it was something dirty. Xander entered the room. "I don't think he had any important intel. Why?"

"We kinda staked him by accident," Dawn said behind Xander.

"How do you stake someone by accident?" Spike asked.

"I tripped, and then when I was in range he did this whole trying to kill me thing, and then Dawn stepped in. I gotta say, guys, I'm kinda off my game," Xander said.

"Which is weird, because you're really muscley," Dawn said.

"Dawn, you are officially prohibited from noticing that Xander is muscley," Buffy said.

"I'm, like, old now. I can notice whatever I want. Like how you and Spike suddenly seem to need all this alone time. I wonder what you're doing, just the two of you?" Dawn asked with deceptive innocence.

"You should probably stop noticing stuff altogether," Buffy said, but she smiled despite herself.

"So, was this the big assault or just the first wave?" Spike asked.

"I dunno. I guess we should wait to hear what the voice has to say. I mean, maybe he was one of those guys you already staked, but like Spike said, why use the Bloodsong if they were standing right in front of him? It_ is_ pretty poncey," Dawn said.

"So what do you wanna do? Make popcorn and watch a movie?" Xander asked.

"Actually Xander, I was hoping maybe you could fix the door," Buffy asked hopefully. "They kicked it in, just to annoy me, probably."

"I don't ask you to make my phone calls for me," Xander said, referring to her job at the call centre.

"That is because a monkey could do my job. You, however, are a skilled labourer. Highly skilled. And I think I have some tools somewhere," Buffy said.

"I'll show him. Unless you _didn't_ want to be alone with Spike," Dawn said.

Buffy watched them leave. She glared at Dawn, who was giggling at her own joke as she left. No matter how old Dawn got, she never seemed to outgrow giggling, and Buffy had to admit she was kind of glad.

Spike took Buffy's hand and led her out the back door, and then sat her down on a lawn chair. She looked up at him and realized he was going to rub her shoulder. She braced herself for the feeling of his hands on hers, knowing how he affected her.

His touch was gentle and efficient, and surprisingly bereft of sensuality. And her shoulder actually felt better. She would have given him full marks for not taking pervey advantage of the opportunity a massage presented, but she _wanted_ him to take full advantage. She wondered if Spike knew that. She had been pretty skittish earlier—but then this morning she'd actually made out with him on the sofa. So yeah, he probably knew she was all into him.

Spike had moved her hair over to one shoulder for the massage, and when it was over, he bent and kissed her neck. The action sent shivers throughout her body, and not because he'd tried to kill her with a bite to that very spot several times before. That was a different Spike, and in a lot of ways, she was a different Buffy. She turned her head and he moved his lips up her jaw, kissing his way to her mouth. It was surprisingly tender, for Spike, but if she was honest with herself, she would have to concede that in the past she never would have allowed such an intimate kiss.

Buffy stood up and put her arms around Spike, kissing him in a way that expressed what she was feeling for him. He must have felt the affection she was trying to convey, because he pulled back almost abruptly and looked at her. "So you really do care about me, then, pet?"

"I do care. And what I said before, about us not being friends…well, I think you've done your best for a long time to be my friend. Sometimes your best was creepy and weird, but it was your best. And I've never really made that effort," Buffy said.

"I hope I've been less creepy and weird since I got a soul," Spike said. Buffy looked closely at his face to see if he was offended by what she'd said—he didn't seem to be, and there was a slight smile on his face.

"Well, just as soon and we got the First out of your head, you were definitely a less creepy version of yourself. But it wasn't entirely your fault. How could you have been anything but creepy, with Drusilla and Angelus as role models?"

"I don't know if I'd call Angelus my role model. I certainly never tried to be like him. Maybe out do him—but never be like him."

"I thought you and Angel had made peace or something."

"We did, sort of. But that doesn't mean Angelus and I made peace. I swear, that guy uses not having a soul as an excuse to be the world's biggest ass. And Angel uses having a soul as an excuse to be so damned dreary."

"Buffy, come look at the door!" Xander called from inside.

"Thanks for the massage," Buffy said. She brushed his lips lightly with her own, and he smiled.

Buffy walked up into the house and then to the front door. "Um, yeah, that's awesome Xander," she said.

"It's a hatchet job, but at least the thing will lock tonight. The door's pooched—you need another one," Xander said.

"Maybe we should get a tougher one," Buffy said.

"I dunno. If we had some kind of guarantee that it wouldn't just get kicked in next week, maybe. But why waste money on an expensive door when you can pretty much be sure it's going to get kicked in again?" Dawn asked.

"Maybe you should consider a steel door," Xander said. "It doesn't have the charm of wood, but honestly, what is this? The hundredth time you're door's been kicked in?"

"Sometimes I hate my life," Buffy muttered.

"So what's the—wait a minute—I have a location. It's an abandoned warehouse off the highway," Spike said.

"I knew it! It's always a warehouse," said Dawn.

"I should go in alone, being a vampire and all, and let you guys know what he's planning…if the guy with the bloodstone is there I'll give you a signal and we can attack."

"What kind of signal?" Xander asked.

"I could text you," Spike said. "You see, they have these new-fangled things called cell phones…"

Buffy looked around at her friends. "Any problems with that plan? I think it's workable, and I'm getting kinda sick of this guy."

"You still feeling rusty Xander?" Spike asked.

"I'll manage," Xander said.

"Alright, let's do this," Buffy said.


	7. Chapter 7

Spike sauntered confidently into the warehouse, in full demon face.

He looked around and saw no one. Maybe this was some kind of a trap. Did they suspect that Buffy had a vampire helping her? If Dawn was right and this was someone who knew her, they might assume that a vampire giving warning was why the other vamps hadn't returned from their attempt on Buffy's life. After all, Buffy had associated with both he and Angel in the past.

No that Spike minded being caught in a trap. Might be a bit of a laugh.

Nevertheless, he lightened his step a bit to see if he could sneak up. He rounded a corner and saw a group of vamps standing around under an industrial light that hung from the ceiling.

"Look here, you," Spike said. "Turn your bloody walky-talky off. I'm sick of hearing about your little plans."

He had decided that if he came in pretending to be all gung-ho to kill Buffy, and the guy in charge knew him, it wouldn't exactly work out. So he was going with just being annoyed with the voices in his head, which anyone who knew him would believe.

"Spike? We meet again," said a vamp with dark hair and thick muscles. His clothes were about ten years out of date. Why couldn't other vamps learn the trick of wearing clothes that were timeless?

Spike looked at the man closely. "Nope. I don't think I know you. Am I supposed to?"

"I fought you and Buffy in Sunnydale. Repeatedly," he said.

"Did we?" Spike asked. "Never mind. I'm sure she'll remember you, when you make your big move. What is that, by the way?"

"The big move was me using the Bloodsong Orb to get you all here and then we attack you. But you came alone. Why is that?" the man asked.

"In case it was a trap," Spike said. "But Buffy's outside. I could text her if you want. Or I could just kill you all now."

"No need to start the party without me, Spike. I decided we didn't need any recon for this small fry," Buffy said from behind him. Xander and Dawn were standing on either side of her, but slightly back, and all three of them had stakes.

"He says he knows us, Slayer," Spike said.

"Which one?" Buffy asked.

"You don't remember me either?" the man asked incredulously. "What about you, Xander? You have to remember me. We were in shop class together."

"Shop? Really? Maybe it's the demon face," Xander said.

The man shook off his demon face and now looked like a relatively average-looking, well-muscled man.

"So this shop class we were in, it was in, like, high school?" Xander asked.

"What is with you people?" the man asked. "I knew you guys pretty well, and then I died, and we fought all the time. You killed so many friends of mine—and then I left, to get tougher, and build my army. I knew I had to be strong to defeat you."

"I think I remember him," Dawn said. "You seem pretty darn familiar."

"We never met!" the man snapped.

"Oh," Dawn said. "Sorry."

"I heard all about all the people who went up against you. Glory, the First Evil, the Turok-Han army, and everything in between. I knew I would have to have do something incredible to finally defeat you."

"So you decided to use something that's slightly less effective than a cell phone?" Buffy asked.

"Why less effective?" one the vamps asked.

"It broadcasts indiscriminately," Dawn said.

"Oh, right," he said.

"Enough!" the man said. "That wasn't the whole plan. I have this!" he held aloft a carved staff that looked like it might hold an ancient power.

"I remember that!" Dawn said. "It was one of the things that came through the magic shop and Giles thought was too dangerous to sell, so he had Willow and Tara make it completely harmless," Dawn said. She smiled apologetically. "I hope you didn't pay too much for it."

"Oh I remember that staff. It was supposed to summon a demon that would be invincible for like, a week or something. That would have been really scary," Buffy said.

The man, who still hadn't identified himself, looked in askance at Buffy. "You can remember this staff, but you can't remember me?"

"God, I'm sorry. It's not like you were my date to the prom or anything," Buffy said sarcastically. "Like you said there's been a lot of things happening in my life—wait a minute, why am I apologizing to someone who's trying to kill me? Can we just fight already? These are new boots and the heels are killing me".

"So your boots are so far one up on the super villain?" Spike asked.

"That's it! Now you die," the man said.

The fight was rough and dirty. None of the assembled vamps were particularly well-trained except for the main guy—whatshisname—so they were taken out pretty quickly. All too soon there was only whatshisname and Buffy fighting.

Xander, Spike and Dawn settled in to watch some elaborate martial arts.

"He's not bad," Xander said, ducking to avoid a chair that flew dangerously close to his head.

"As a fighter, sure, but as a schemer and plotter? He's rotten," Spike said. "I came up with much better plans than this. I mean, I usually got bored halfway through and just made some mayhem, but my plans, if I ever stuck with them, were way better than this one."

"You really sound like you're missing the Big Bad business, Spike. Should we spend tomorrow scanning the local real estate pages for empty warehouses?" Xander said.

"I could probably get Giles to tell me the name of one of those black market ancient artifact auctions. Auctions are so cool," Dawn said.

"It's just such a shame, to let all this glorious talent go to waste," Spike said, grabbing Buffy as she was thrown into his arms, and then catapulting her back towards the man she was fighting with. "Look what we're reduced to fighting these days."

"He didn't know the staff thingy was out of juice. He's not so bad," Dawn said.

"Well, there's such thing as waiting too long to get your revenge," Spike said. "And then there's waiting until no one you're trying to get revenge on even remembers you. It's kind of sad, really."

Buffy staked the man and then, just as he was about to disintegrate into dust, she said, "Oh no, wait! I don't even know your—"

"Name," Dawn finished after the dust cleared.

"Um, anyone hungry?" Buffy asked.

"I could eat," said Xander.

Later on that night, Spike was standing by the fridge packing up his cooler of blood.

"You're going already?" Buffy asked in a small voice.

"Yeah. I thought it wasn't fair, what with the boy here and all. He wants to have a proper visit without me mucking up the works," Spike said.

"So, you want to come back later? Maybe next weekend?" Buffy asked.

"Why not come to New York? We could go dancing, kill a few vamps, and then have all the privacy we need to, um, get reacquainted," Spike said.

"You think the neighbours won't complain? We once wrecked a house," Buffy said.

"What do you say? Want to come stay with me, see what happens?" Spike asked.

"See what happens, eh? A minute ago it sounded like you knew exactly how the night was going to end," Buffy said. She put her arms around Spikes neck and kissed him wickedly. "A promise of things to come," she murmured, kissing him again softly.

"Oh I never count on anything going the way I plan it, not with you around, Slayer," Spike said.

"I like to keep you on your toes," Buffy said.

"I like to keep you on your back," Spike smirked.

Buffy looked skyward and sighed. They really shouldn't talk. Like, ever.


End file.
